Erulastiel
Preservation and Sustainability. Elves are keenly aware of how their actions affect the ecosystem that they live in and how to keep it in equilibrium. They know how much the forest can afford to be harvested, and how to live in a way that is sustainable through the centuries of their existence. Avoiding hard labor, sickness, or injury, an elf can expect to live 700 years or more in good health. If they plant a tree, they can fully expect to one day bask in its shade. So short-term profits at the cost of irreplaceable or unsustainable resources would not appeal to them. ' ' Lose the battle, win the war. ' ' The loss of a single elf is a costly and profound tragedy. When an elven baby is born, their entire village celebrates for a week straight. When it takes a century to raise a child to cultural adulthood, you need to be wise about the battles you choose to fight, and ready to retreat at a moment’s notice. There is no shame for retreating in elven tactics. The shame is in your casualty count. Land comes and goes; the culture is carried by the people. A palm tree is flexible. When the hurricane comes, it can bend and bow without breaking. Then when the storm passes, it stands tall and unharmed, even though everything around it was devastated. An outnumbered elven kingdom might surrender to human invaders. They integrate with the human society, and two human generations later, they hold all the seats of power. They will slowly transform it back how things were before. Elves have a grander outlook than other races. If the elves don’t think that you will be entirely annihilated then don’t count on them to help. Even if the deimos allies lose half their population - why is that such a big deal? Their numbers will replenish back within the century! And they were overfarming anyways, so clearly their numbers needed culling. Elves view the 'mayfly' races as less. Halflings especially, who work the fields to spare the backs of their masters. Other societies see elves as unreliable, cowardly, and uncaring of allies. But the short-lived races lack the proper perspective. The Empress and the Imperial Family. Order, Stability, Harmony. Just as a single elf might understand how to stay in harmony with their local environment, Empress Ilythyrra Erulatiel is trusted to how to keep all of Elvenkind in harmony with the greater world and has full power to direct the nation to her ends. If her edicts do not make sense, it's because you cannot comprehend the grandeur of her ultimate design. All shall obey without question. There are six ministries that Her Eminence uses. Personnel, Revenue, Divinity, War, Culture, and Creation. * The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of appointments, merit ratings, promotions, and demotions of officials, as well as granting of honorific titles. * The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of gathering census data, collecting taxes, and handling state revenues. * The Ministry of Divinity is the envoy between religion and government. It is in charge of state ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices. * The Ministry of War is in charge of the appointments, promotions, and demotions of military officers, the maintenance of military installations, equipment, and weapons, as well as the courier system. They are charged with protecting Erulastiel from threats from outside. Erulastiel does not maintain a large standing military, but has great numbers in reserve. * The Ministry of Culture is in charge of judicial and penal processes. It also oversees diplomatic outreach spies and Erulastiel's interests outside the empire. * The Ministry of Public Works is in charge of government construction projects, hiring of artisans and laborers for temporary service, manufacturing government equipment, the maintenance of roads and canals, standardization of weights and measures, and the gathering of resources from the countryside. Her Eminence has appointed certain families to head each ministry. These families are collectively the Imperial Family. The Great Family is all of Elvenkind, and Ilythyrra Erulastiel is the All-Mother. Upon ascension, the All-Mother must break ties with her previous family in favor of Elvenkind as a whole. Her successor is chosen in secret among the Imperial Family. The Vaeria family is one of the controlling heads of the Ministry of Culture. For her family's history of service and sacrifice, and her overall popularity, Daegwyn Vaeria is considered a top contender for succession.